[Rec_bike] From the General Assembly

[John Heckman]

All,

Fresh from the General Assembly:

HB 1981, our bill to allow motorcyclists to treat a red 
light as a stop sign when the sensor fails to recognize the 
motorcycle has passed the Senate with amendment by a 
unanimous vote.  This is great news for every motorcyclist 
who has been stranded at a red light.  The important 
language of the bill is below.  The Senate amendment is in 
italics.  As you can see the amendment does not change the 
purpose of the bill:

B. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if a driver 
of a motorcycle or moped or a*_bicycle rider_* approaches an 
intersection that is controlled by a traffic light, the 
driver or rider may proceed through the intersection on a 
steady red light only if the driver or rider (i) comes to a 
full and complete stop at the intersection for two complete 
cycles of the traffic light or for two minutes, whichever is 
shorter, (ii) exercises due care as provided by law, (iii) 
otherwise treats the traffic control device as a stop sign, 
and (iv) determines that it is safe to proceed /and (v) 
yields the right of way to the driver of any vehicle 
approaching on such other highway from either direction./

The bill will now go back to the House of Delegates so that 
it can be conformed by the House adopting that language.  
After that it will go to the Governor for his signature.  
After that, barring a veto by the Governor who has always 
been a good friend to Virginia Motorcyclists, this will be 
the law in Virginia as of July 1, 2011.

I want to thank everyone who worked so hard on this bill.  A 
special thanks to our Patron Delegate Thomas "Tag" Greason.  
He worked tirelessly for this bill.  If you would like to 
send him a word of thanks his contact information is below:

http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/a7b082ef6ed01eac85256c0d00515644/38f56ad356c4724e85257535005773d0?OpenDocument

I also want to thank our brothers and sisters from ABATE of 
South Carolina.  They allowed us to borrow their language 
and gave us some great advice from the lessons they learned 
in getting their bill passed a few years back.

As always if anyone has any questions or comments concerning 
this email please feel free to contact me.

Matt Danielson

McGrath & Danielson

Tom McGrath's Motorcycle Law Group
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